MPIC eyes public listing of toll road unit after PSE exit
MANILA -Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is gearing up to make its toll road arm a publicly listed company by next year—a move that is expected to bode well for its infrastructure projects—after finally exiting the stock market following a successful tender offer.
Billionaire Manuel Pangilinan, the conglomerate’s chair, said they were eyeing to launch the initial public offering (IPO) for Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) next year, which will be the first in the series of fund-raising activities as MPIC seeks to list its major subsidiaries.
“We’ve undertaken to the government that after delisting, we will list our tollways,” the tycoon told reporters in Mandaluyong on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Maynilad Water Services Inc., MPIC’s water concessionaire, is targeted to go public by 2026.
READ: Drama ends for MPIC as it clears major obstacle in split with bourse
Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan told the Inquirer that the IPO would boost funding of MPTC, which recently inked a partnership with San Miguel Corp. to build the 88-kilometer Cavite-Batangas Expressway and Nasugbu-Bauan Expressway. This has a project cost of P72 billion.
“Infrastructure has been a relatively strong and stable business so an IPO should be able to get interest from investors,” Limlingan added.
READ: Metro Pacific aiming to beat 2019 feat as toll road unit gears up for IPO
MPTC’s portfolio includes the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), NLEx Connector, Cavite-Laguna Expressway, Subic-Clark Tarlac Expressway and Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway.
The toll road company is projecting a 20-percent growth in traffic volume and revenues this year as more expressways open amid an increase in mobility.
On Tuesday, MPIC completed the tender offer, with the principal bidders acquiring 97.22 percent of the conglomerate’s total issued and outstanding listed shares.
First Pacific, the single-biggest shareholder of MPIC, is among the principal bidders. Other tender offer buyers are GT Capital Holdings; Pangilinan; and a Japanese venture led by industrial giant Mitsubishi. Following this transaction, the public float is expected to fall to 2.78 percent, allowing MPIC to undergo voluntary delisting.
MPIC is set to exit the local bourse by October.
